1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure generally relates to a device, system, and method for receiving and transmitting fare collection data with a dynamic fare collection data probe. Specifically, the disclosure relates to a dynamic fare collection data probe that allows for faster data rates and compensates for variances within emitter and detector parameters associated with a fare collection system.
2. Related Art
In conventional designs, a fare box receives passenger fares for public transportation such as a bus, subway, light rail, train, or the like. Fare boxes can have a place to input bills and change, readers for smart cards that transmit payments, readers for near field code-enabled devices, magnetic card readers, and the like.
Fare collection equipment can employ a contactless method of data transfer. A user holds a data probe up to a window (known as a data port) on the fare collection device and transfers data in both directions through infrared light. The directions represent the data system both transmitting from and receiving on the data probe.
Such a method may often utilize fixed intensity infrared emitters and fixed gain infrared detectors to transfer data. The drawback of using fixed intensity emitters and fixed gain detectors is that as the data rates increase, the detector becomes effectively blinded by the emitter. In addition, gains for infrared photo detector devices vary significantly from device to device, thus limiting the overall data transfer rate.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and a method for automatically adjusting gain in a dynamic data probe for a fare collection system to allow for faster data rates and compensate for variances within emitter and detector parameters.